Some 124 joint replacement surgeries have been performed in the province since December as a result of some new approaches to surgical backlogs.

The provincial government says 70 hip and 54 knee replacement surgeries were completed as outpatient procedures since December, including 101 that resulted in same-day discharges.

Sixty-two patients were flown from western Newfoundland and the Labrador-Grenfell health care zone for cardiac catheterization procedures in St. John’s, and 67 orthopaedic surgeries were performed in St. Anthony through the travelling orthopaedic program.

The province says that program has the potential to book more than 120 patients on the surgical waitlist who would otherwise have to wait to get their surgeries in the capital city.

The health department says work is now underway to expand the travelling orthopaedic surgery program to Carbonear later this summer and they’re also looking at other parts of the province.